Olympus C-3030 Zoom

By
Bryan Young

Click to take a 360-degree QTVR tour of the C-3030 Zoom

The new Olympus C-3030 ZOOM is a 3.34 megapixel digital camera with 15 different still image capture modes in five different image sizes (2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960, 1024 x 768 and 640 x 480.) It also offers QuickTime Movie capture at 15fps with sound. Sound can be recorded during video filming or a 4 second sound byte can be recorded for play with a single image. If you look at the photo above you will see five small holes just above the lens on the right, this is the microphone.

A 32MB SDRAM buffer allows for rapid shooting at 3.5 frames per second. The builtin 6-mode flash has a new slow syncro mode plus red-eye reduction plus a connector that provides true TTL control of the Olympus FL-40 external speedlight. Shutter speeds from 1/30 to 1/10,000 second plus longer shutter speeds of up to 16 seconds in Manual mode. The Manual exposure mode allows both the shutter speed and apertures to be selected independently.

On the back is a 1.8-inch "Wide-View" active-matrix color LCD first implemented on the C-2020. It is much easier to view in all but the extremes of direct sunlight. The LCD is used to access the menus (see next page) and as a real-time viewfinder. It can be switched off to conserve battery power when using the conventional eyelevel viewfinder.

The C-3030 sports a large and bright optical finder complete with a diopter control adjustment knob on the side.

The green LED indicates a focus lock and the amber LED tells you the status of the flash.

I'm happy to report that Olympus has finally done away with that battery door that required two hands and twelve fingers to close. The new door easily closes and latches securely shut with little to no effort. The bottom of the C-3030 is nice and flat and lends itself well to being mounted on a tripod.

The 3X zoom (32-96mm equivalent) is an 8-element, all-glass aspherical lens with continuous 2.5X digital telephoto. It's not as fast as the F2 lens on the C-2020 but it's still performs well in low light.

Aperture settings of F2.8 - F11 are selectable in 1/3 step increments. Autofocus or manual focus range is from 8" to infinity.

The lens base is threaded and accepts the optional Olympus CLA-1 lens adapter to attach filters or add-on lenses.

The mode dial is also the main power switch. Recording modes include "P"rogram automatic, a choice of "A"perture priority, "S"hutter priority or full "M"anual operation (depends on how you set it up in the menu). And the QuickTime movie mode that also captures sound.

The shutter button has the zoom lens control built around it. It also functions as the zoomed playback and thumbnail control when in play mode.

Access to the SmartMedia memory card slot is via a door on the side.

The tiny cards are easily removed by means of a "push in and pop out" type of ejector mechanism.

The red LED illuminates when the card is being accessed and lets you know when it is unsafe to remove the card.

The C-3030Z accomodates any capacity 3.3v SmartMedia card and comes with an 16MB card.

The C-3030's I/O ports are hidden behind a small access door.

On the top is the DC input jack for the optional AC power adapter.

Next is the combination Video Out and Audio Out port for playback on a TV set.

New on the C-3030 is a high speed USB port for speedy download of those large, three megapixel images.

An RS-232 serial port for PC and Mac.

The external flash sync port is a dedicated port for the Olympus flash (see below) and will NOT work with other strobes without an adapter cable and it is not yet available (as of 6/14/00).

The C-3030 is equipped with a 5-pin sync port that allows connection to the high power Olympus FL-40 speedlight. As of this writing (6/14/00) the cable to use this strobe is still not available, hopefully in a month?

The benefits are longer range, bounce/tilt flash head and true TTL-controlled flash illumination.

A newly designed door makes changing the batteries a snap now compared to the tug of war we had with the C-2020 and C-2000 models. Flexible power options include four 1.5v alkaline or lithium AA cells, four 1.2v NiMH and NiCD rechargeable AA cells or two of the new CR-V3, long-life lithium cells.

Visitors of Steves can visit the stores below for real-time pricing and availability. You can also find hot, soon to expire online offers on a variety of cameras and accessories at our very own Camera Deals page.